While Auguste is under the captain's care, the wife of the captain, Madame La, (played by Juliette Binoche) takes an interest in the convict and begins to try to redeem him. Under her auspices, Auguste works hard and carries out a number of good deeds for the good of the community. The locals begin to see that he has changed, and Madame La begins a campaign to stop him from being executed. After a year of awaiting execution, Auguste has become a changed man.

When the guillotine finally arrives on the island, none of the islanders wants to be the executioner. However, Auguste remains a condemned man, and someone must be found to pull the lever on the guillotine. A newcomer arrives on the island who desperately needs money for his family. He agrees to become the executioner for money and housing but also takes on the social stigma of being the community's executioner. The guillotine arrives, and the townspeople are reluctant to help get it to shore, but, once they see Auguste helping to provide money for his family, the others take shifts, too. The Captain refuses to take Auguste to his execution and, because of this, is deemed treasonous and sentenced to death by firing squad. Both of the executions take place, and Madame La is shown alone and in mourning.

Though set in the French colony of St Pierre and Miquelon, the movie was filmed on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.[4] The French title La Veuve de Saint-Pierre contains wordplay. "Veuve" translates to "Widow". In the 1800s the word was also slang for a guillotine.[5]